Help narrowing down my choices

[abibibo]

So I ended up going with the used Palladian. Seller was super helpful and actually delivered the stove right to my front door for free. Already love the looks of it sitting in my living room. And, with a little elbow grease and paint I think I can have it looking good as new (at $650 or the stove plus Woodstock's very affordable parts, I'll only really be out time if it ends up taking more than expected). Thanks so much for all the recommendations! I think any of the stove's recommended would have worked great; this one just seemed to hit the sweet spot of what we were looking for. I'll be sure to post some before and after shots once I get it all cleaned up!.

Me too!
. . .but it sounds like the apearance of the stove is high on OP's list of criteria. I've got it! Buy both! Get a new stove with rebates, and put in a standing offer for $500 on the Palladian. Burn the new stove this season, and if the Palladian seller gets back to you, refurb it this summer. Try the Palladian out next season, then sell whichever one you like less. "One of us! One of us!"

Not actually a bad idea ddddddden ;-) ! But, I've got enough expenses and enough on my plate with the current house renovation (not to mention a garage overflowing with all our stuff) that I'm just happy to have one stove that should look and work great.

 

[begreen]

Congratulations! With a little love and attention I think you will be a happy camper. The Keystone and Palladian are great medium sized stoves.

 

[Woody Stover]

He knocked a hundred bux off, AND brought it to your house?? What a guy!

I'm just happy to have one stove that should look and work great.

You'll only get happier once you start firin' that baby! One sweet rig. Update us when you start burning.
Did the guy buy the stove new? I guess it has the original cast iron combustor scoop, or did he put in the stainless scoop with the screen? And maybe it has a steel cat since that is 1.5 years old? I'm running my original Ceramic cat right now, had a diesel-foil cat for a couple years, now have a DuraFoil waiting in the wings. I ran the Fireview for a couple years in there, so the ceramic has some life left yet since it hasn't been used all that much.

 

[Woody Stover]

Well, have you had a chance yet to get some pics of the new stove, inside and out? We love pics.. If not, what color is it?

 

[ddddddden]

So I ended up going with the used Palladian. Seller was super helpful and actually delivered the stove right to my front door for free. . .

Sweet! Sounds like a great person to buy a stove from, especially since he had the good sense to pull this lil' beauty from service, rather than fire the piss out of it trying to heat a larger house with a 1.5-cu-ft stove.

. . .Already love the looks of it sitting in my living room. . .this one just seemed to hit the sweet spot of what we were looking for. . .

I agree. IMO, this is as good as it gets for someone with a smaller space and a high priority on aesthetics. Congrats on getting a sweet deal on one of the prettiest stoves made in recent years.

. . .with a little elbow grease and paint I think I can have it looking good as new. . .The external cast iron has some considerable rust and it would need complete repainting. . .If I really want to get all the rust off before painting, getting a wire brush in all the diamond patterning on the Palladian seems challenging.

I know! The grooves go perpendicular every inch or so, almost in an anti-brush pattern. . .price of style, My Man. Price of style.

p.s. All that detail in the casting adds to the surface area, which in theory, helps transfer heat to your room. Almost look like heat fins.

 

[Woody Stover]

All that detail in the casting adds to the surface area, which in theory, helps transfer heat to your room. Almost look like heat fins.

Sure, we all like these sweet stone stoves...but 'heat fins??' That's taking the hype to near BK levels.

 

[abibibo]

Sorry not to check back in sooner. Looks to have a steel cat as best I can tell. Here's a couple pics from right after we brought it inside ... before I even cleaned out the ashes and the unburden wood pellets his son dropped inside.

As I mentioned, the outside is fairly rusty. Not sure the rust is from the seller storing it on his covered porch after uninstalling, or if the previous owner did that (hard to believe, but woodstock says the serial number is only 10 years old). In any case, a dremel with a wire brush has worked great on the textured areas, and I'll shortly be taking an angle grinder and brass brush to the flat cast iron.

I've been fighting with the seized bolts on the rear vent access panel and the stovepipe collar (need to free to easily access the cat once the top frame is back on). My house smells of PB blaster and after 6 hours I've only managed to free one bolt. May end up having to drill them out and re-thread. I also have since removed the top assembly to clean out the un-burnt wood pellets the sellers son managed to drop inside and which was preventing the cat bypass from closing. The good news is now that it's clean, it all looks very solid inside--it's really just the outer rust and seized bolts I'll need to work on. Might be a little while before it's fired up as I'll still need to install a chimney and build a hearth (along with the rest of the house renovations), but I'll update with progress.

Thanks again for all the input and warm wishes!